George S. Takach

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AREA OF EXPERTISE

OFFICE

DIRECT LINE

E-MAIL

V-CARD

LAW SCHOOL

University of Toronto

BAR ADMISSION

Ontario, 1985

Biography

George S. Takach is a senior partner in the firm’s Toronto office. George brings significant value to clients in their tech company M&A/financing deals, their sophisticated tech licensing, IT procurement and other tech commercial transactions, and their more challenging e-commerce activities, including projects involving cloud computing, big data and social media.

McCarthy Tétrault is Canada’s pre-eminent firm for technology law. Since its inception in 1997, the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory has found McCarthy Tétrault to have the strongest computer and information technology law practice in Canada. In the 2014 edition of Chambers Global, McCarthy Tétrault is listed in Band 1 for Information Technology.

George’s deep experience in tech M&A/financing allows his clients to get deals done more quickly and cost effectively. Past deals where he has brought his value-added skill set to clients include:

a range of other M&A/financing transactions involving technology companies and tech-related assets, including: acquisition by Exact Software of Longview Solutions; acquisition by Kobo of Aquafadas; and sale by Scotiabank of its fixed income indices business to TSX Group.

In the area of sophisticated tech licensing, IT procurement and other tech commercial deals, George’s creativity and broad experience allows clients to resolve difficult issues more quickly and to get the relationship off on the right foot. In the tech commercial area, George has a national practice with the following illustrative clients whom he has assisted with a broad range of agreements:

a Montréal-based bank;

a Calgary-based energy company;

a Canadian-based, global life sciences company;

a Toronto-based retailer;

three Toronto-based banks;

a Montréal-based communications company;

a Toronto-based public sector agency; and

a public sector consortium with members in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

George helps clients craft sensible and workable solutions to complex e-commerce-related legal and compliance challenges. He brings a steady and experienced hand to bear on the invariably unprecedented legal issues generated by novel e-commerce business processes. In the e-commerce/Internet law area, his extensive practice includes:

advising governments on law reform initiatives aimed at facilitating e-commerce;

helping organizations comply with privacy and data protection laws; and

crafting and negotiating co-branding, Web-linking and other e-commerce-related agreements.

George is the author of three books: Computer Law, second edition; The Software Business, second edition; and Contracting for Computers, fourth edition. For 20 years he was an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, where he taught a course in Computer Law. George is in demand as a speaker to legal and technology industry audiences and a regular writer on legal technology topics.

George is listed in the 2014 edition of Chambers Global:The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, as the only "Eminent Practitioner" in the area of information technology for Canada. Since its inception (and most recently in 2014), George has appeared in the Lexpert/The American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, as a leading lawyer in the areas of technology and corporate mid-market. George is recognized in The Best Lawyers in Canada as a leading lawyer in information technology law and technology law. Since its inception in 1997, he has been listed in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, a guide to the leading law firms and practitioners in Canada, as a leading lawyer in the areas of technology and computer & IT law.

George received his BA and his JD (Dean’s Honour List) from the University of Toronto. He also has his MA in international relations from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University in Ottawa. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1985. George has been on the Board of, and continues to raise money for, Lake Scugog Camp, an organization serving underprivileged and "at risk" children/youth and their families (a camp that George attended when he was a child).